As the cast of Arena Stage’s Next To Normal patters through the opening number, “Just Another Day,” it’s hard not to feel a little cynical – another testament to the mundane trappings of suburban life? Is there really anything more to say on the subject?

Turns out there is, and even before the number concludes, you realize that this family’s problems reach beyond a teenage girl who feels ignored and a couple with a less-than-satisfying sex life. The number ends in a panicking crescendo, as Diana (Alice Ripley) begins having a sort of nervous breakdown, while frenetically making sandwiches…on the floor. It’s an odd, disjointing scene that sets a tone of wariness for the evening ahead.

It seems Diana’s problems are pretty serious – she’s been treated for more than a decade with pills and shrinks for her reaction to a traumatic event years ago, while her family stands by, her dutiful but strained husband “living on a latte and a prayer” and her daughter on the verge of collapse from trying to make herself noticed. It is when we begin to get a better sense of how these two are handling their demons that the impact of Next To Normal really begins to hit home, from Dan’s (J. Robert Spencer) impassioned declaration that “I Am the One” who has stayed true to his difficult wife, to Natalie’s (Jennifer Damiano) melancholy tale of living in shadow with “Superboy and the Invisible Girl.”